Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I and trying to decide, when I build a cage, if I want a solid flooring or a screen. Does anyone here have a prefrence and what would be the pros/ cons to each?

If I went with the screen flooring I would add a few support braces underneath that could support a plant/small tree.

Opinions?

I would not go with an all screen floor. It would be more difficult to clean up then a solid one. You will also need something under there to catch all the water. If you go with a solid bottom, then you can have a single hole in the center for draining the water.

Oh, love the pic.. what kind of material is that you are using for the floor?
Never thought about the hole in there like that..
which is why I was asking.. Thanks for the reply!

It's PVC plastic which I got locally for about $35.00. It's flexible and easy to drill into.

-roo

Cham cage flooring is one of those tricky things we have to get creative with. Some ideas: build the cage so it can sit over a large plastic sweater or storage box or even a freezer or refrigerator pan and use sturdy hardware mesh that can support plant pots. Water drains through. Set the cage frame in a hydroponics flood table tray (usually ABS plastic and come in various nice sizes) and install a drain into a bucket underneath. Use a solid sheet of plastic, fiberglass, a salvaged piece of plexiglass or even sealed wood, and leave a drain hole for water. Tip the cage slightly on one end so water runs off rather than pooling.

My personal preferance is the hardware cloth as suggested above, tho for an adult cage, you will def. need supports. I have mine sitting above a sweater box (I have yet to buy something to prop it up off of the bx for eazier emptying). My cage is small enough to lift & hold while someone else empties the water. I find that all the "yucky" stuff also falls through this & makes for a cleaner cage if I can't get to cleaning it every few days. The draw-bck is that food items can fall trhough the hardware cloth & into the water... but that only happens to the more adventerous feeders that venture out of the cup.
I also currently have a solid floor on my second cage & find it makes free-ranging the food easier (a lot less loss to drowning), but the water clean-up is a chore (I have no drainage hole as of yet). I guess it's really up to you. The post directly before mine gave a lot of good suggestions.
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lets see if i can describe my "solution"

it is a combo of some of the ideas avove.
I have my cage built to fit a plastic tray that was originally used in a pizza shop for its dough, about 3' wide and 2' deep (i'm sure that there are similar sized sweater boxes)
similar to above i have a hole drilled into the bottom but i placed it under my ficus pot so thathe more adventurous feeders cannot get out but the water can

beneath the tray i have a pair of plastic drawers that i picked up from Lowes. the hole mentioned above is over one and i use the other to hide all the "stuff" that we need. these drawers have a plastic structure around them that would make them stackable. it is this structure that supports the cage so that i can remove the drawer to empty it.

i run at least a gallon thru this every few days between the mister, the dripper, me misting and the humidifier.sometimes on the weekend i will have "rainday" and let the mister run for an hour or more. the drawer should hold about 2.5 or 3 gallons so if i get lazy and only empty it weekly i have no mess.

what i like is the fact that it makes it easy to remove the water and only raises the cage by about 7" or so

scott
-a picture is worth a thousand words...how many did i write?

I use alot of different materials for the flooring in my cages
From glass,plexi,laminated plywood But never screen
I could just imagine all the crix i would lose from falling through the screen to the water basin below
In all the materials i drill holes in smaller than the crix i will be using for drainage
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Thanks Dennis
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